Tanium could be the most expensive cybersecurity startup

    Tanium has become one of the most expensive startups on the security market. In the final round, he raised $ 120 million from TPG , Institutional Venture Partners and T Rowe Price , as well as Andreessen Horowitz . In March, according to the results of the previous round, the company's valuation amounted to $ 1.7 billion. Now it has more than doubled and reached $ 3.5 billion.

    History knows two more similar cases when cybersecurity companies managed to raise such a large sum in one round. In 2009, Czech antivirus software developer AVG Technologies received $ 200 million, and last year the American company Lookout managed to raise $ 150 million.

    Tanium is dedicated to protecting corporate networks from cyber attacks. Investors consider this direction very promising. According to PrivCo , this year the total investment in this kind of startups for one quarter in the first time exceeded $ 1 billion.

    After high-profile hacking stories of the Anthem insurance company network and Ashley Madison dating service, many companies increased the cost of hacking protection. At the end of 2014, the global cost of information security was to reach $ 71.1 billion, Gartner analysts estimated. This is 7.9% more than in 2013.

    However, Orion Hindawi, one of the founders and technical director of Tanium, is not sure that the defending companies themselves are safe. According to him, investors are still investing large sums in the industry, but now they have stopped making money and are evaluating not a fashionable technology, but a market perspective.

    “A year ago, anyone who proposed a beautiful idea could receive financing, regardless of whether he had the opportunity to implement this idea. Today, many people, especially in the upper segments of the venture capital community, understand that their funding was excessive and often spent only on sales development and marketing, ”says Hindawi.

    “I supported Tanium, because I know that Hindawi is among the elite of the most talented specialists in the field of infrastructure software, there are no more than half a dozen of them in the world. The company offers a communication platform on which you can build powerful, secure applications. Its potential can change the approach of American companies to cybersecurity and data management, "Vedomosti quoted a statement by TPG partner Brian Taylor.

    The volume of Tanium orders in the II quarter increased by more than 250% compared to the same period in 2014, and the number of projects worth more than $ 1 million from the company more than doubled in the first half of the year. The current round of financing has been re-signed four times, and the amount of investment, according to Hindawi, could be increased by another $ 30 million. Now the company has more than $ 250 million in its accounts.

    At this pace, Tanium has every chance of becoming the most expensive cybersecurity startup.

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